


Foundations

by cocinerosyco



Series: Adhesion [2]
Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bonding, M/M, Pseudoscience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:42:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28518819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cocinerosyco/pseuds/cocinerosyco
Summary: Neal thought he knew what he wanted in life, even if he didn't know how to get there. Andy knew what was sure to happen in his life, unless he found someone to change it. A prequel to Adhesion.
Relationships: Andy Skib/Neal Tiemann
Series: Adhesion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089080





	Foundations

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written and posted to LiveJournal in 2010 - a product of its time.

Neal remembered how much his parents had looked forward to bringing home his sister. They'd been cheerful, hopeful, and a little nervous when they boarded the plane that would take them across the ocean to meet their newly adopted little girl. Neal hadn't been quite that excited, but since he was only sixteen at the time, he figured he could be forgiven. Even if he hadn't been excited though, he'd definitely been curious. He had craned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of his parents as they came out of the tunnel at the airport. After what seemed like hundreds of people had emerged, he finally spotted them. They looked tired and disappointed. Neal's eyes immediately searched out his new sister, spotting her walking next to his mother. Neal had been wearing a tshirt and shorts, in deference to the humid and hot Texas summer outside, and his parents, though on an air conditioned plane for practically a day, also wore short sleeved shirts and lightweight pants. This girl? Wore a parka, and had a blanket wrapped around her.  
  
She had heat deficiency, his parents said, and nothing could be done about it. The papers had already been signed and approved, the adoption was cleared and it appeared that you couldn't just return a child you adopted, even if the adoption agency had withheld information about the child. If she had a disease, that would have been one thing, they said, but heat deficiency, although a difficult condition, was not life threatening in any way. So his sister had been bundled up and sent to the United States with her new family.  
  
Overnight, Neal's parents became experts on heat deficiency. Any possible therapy, any trial medicine, any fund they could donate towards finding a cure, they put money into. Life went on. Neal graduated high school and went to college. He left college and started up a band. His sister started elementary school, where she made friends in spite of her disability. His parents adopted another girl. Everything had seemed to be going fine, until his sister's condition began to get worse, to the point where she was too cold to leave her bed. Neal's parents were frantic, searching everywhere for someone or something to help. Around that same time, the media reported that some fringe research group had found a cure for heat deficiency. It was big news: the cure lay in people with some sort of excess body heat, combined with a genetic code that matched one other person. Conservative groups quickly became furious when a source revealed that people were cured through sexual relationships with these 'providers.' Neal's parents contacted the group; even if their eight year old daughter couldn't have the cure, maybe this group knew a way to help.  
  
~~~  
  
Andy shivered as he waited at the bus stop. It was nothing new. If he thought about it, he could figure out how much of his life he had spent shivering - if he counted up all the days, hours, minutes he'd been alive, the number would come awfully close. He shifted position on the bench, rubbing his gloved hands together, trying to get some friction based warmth in his hands. He kept an eye on the other people waiting for the bus. He'd had plenty of ignorant people in his life throw things at him, or on one occasion, spit at him, and he'd found that it was best just to keep an eye on things, that way you could jump out of the way in plenty of time.  
  
It was October: cool enough to be wearing jackets, so Andy didn't get as many strange looks as he would if it was July, but on the other hand, if it was already jacket weather for normal people, it was parka weather for Andy, and that did tend to draw a bit of attention. The ride from California to Phoenix hadn't been too crowded, but there were a lot people on the trip to Oklahoma City to notice when he didn't take off his coat while on the bus. And most of those people were waiting around with him for the transfer to St. Louis. Oh well, Andy thought philosophically, not much he could do about it.  
  
He'd learned a while ago that if there was nothing you could do about a situation, then you just learned to deal with it. And he had, for the longest time. But when it was discovered that you might be able to change something that you'd waited all your life to change, then you jumped at the chance. His last foster family took his departure with resignation. They didn't really agree with his decision to pack up his life and move it across country, all on a hope and a whim, but they accepted his choice. They had been okay people, but after all, he wasn't their problem anymore, and hadn't been for over a year. So Andy had packed everything he deemed important into two duffel bags and bought a Greyhound ticket. It was time to start his life.  
  
Checking his watch, Andy decided if he hurried, he might be able to run and get a cup of coffee before the bus arrived.  
  
~~~  
  
Neal leaned his hip on the porch railing while he lit a cigarette. It was early. Neal's usual routine of staying up til the early morning hours and sleeping until the afternoon seemed pointless when he was at the Center. If he was there to visit Caroline, he may as well be awake during the day and sleep while she was sleeping. He took a deep drag on the cigarette, letting the smoke sit in his lungs a moment before exhaling, the nicotine spreading through his body. He hadn't been to visit in a while, and this visit was really about getting away from Tulsa than anything else. Things weren't going well with the band, and he was almost ready to say fuck it to their drama queen antics and start something new elsewhere.  
  
The Center always got a little too excited when he came to visit. They'd discovered a few visits ago that Neal had the right genetic code to be a potential provider. They desperately wanted Neal to connect with one of their residents, and form a bond. After all, any successful pairing made for a good press opportunity. Neal took another drag on the cigarette. That wasn't fair, though, really. If it was Caroline who could have found someone to bond with at the Center, then Neal would have wanted that asshole to stick around a while. Neal though, Neal didn't plan on tying himself down to another person. He was there for his sister, not to get caught up in all this bonding-sexual healing bullshit. He figured he'd stay at the Center a few more days, get his head screwed back on, figure out what the next destination was (most likely Tulsa, to clean out his apartment), and spend a few more days with Caroline.  
  
He tossed his cigarette down on the concrete beneath him and stubbed it out with his boot. Behind him, the screen door opened. Neal turned around to see Dave quietly closing the door behind him. Dave looked worn out. He nodded good morning at Neal and walked over to lean against the post nearest to Neal, closing his eyes.  
  
"Rough night?"  
  
Dave glanced over at Neal out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, you could say that." He was still wearing the tshirt and jeans he'd been wearing yesterday.  
  
He started to speak again when Neal interrupted him. "Have you gotten any sleep since I got here?"  
  
"Hmm? Not really."  
  
Dave was one of the reasons Neal didn't want to stay. Not because he didn't like Dave; Dave was a good guy, quickly becoming of the best guys Neal had ever known, even setting aside what he'd done for Caroline. He just didn't want to end up like Dave, stuck here because he was needed, exhausting himself trying to take care of everyone at once. The Center had been delighted when Outreach had found Dave. He wasn't a provider, exactly, he just gave off heat like a furnace, to everyone he touched. They'd decided to designate him a "heat sink" even though no one really knew whether he was the only one of his kind (Neal wasn't sure if they were still talking about humans every time he heard them say that) or whether there were more heat sinks out there. Even Neal could feel the heat radiating out from Dave, who wasn't even wearing a jacket in the cold October air. And for the kids at the Center, for whom there was no cure, Dave was the only person who could relieve the cold they had felt all their lives.  
  
Dave sighed. "John's been having panic attacks the past couple of nights, and Carl had a relapse yesterday. And to top it all off, Kristin insists she needs me to hang around, despite being old enough to take care of herself, and we got a new one in last night that I had to stabilize."  
  
"They bad off?"  
  
Dave shrugged. "Some. He was on a bus from California, and he was doing okay until he got to St. Louis, where he was promptly mugged on the streets of our fine city. Lost his coat. He was already in something of a crisis by the time he got to the house."  
  
"Jesus."  
  
"Yeah. Seems like a nice guy. Says he plays guitar." Dave seemed to dig inside himself and find a last bit of energy. "You eaten breakfast yet?" Neal shook his head. "Alright, c'mon. I need sustenance before I go on with my day, and I hear Jake's making pancakes."  
  
"You got the kids all day?" Since kids couldn't bond, Dave had a schedule where he spent a lot of time with them, when they weren't in therapy, or in school, or playing and being active. Usually, that was pretty much all he did, unless someone was in crisis. Dave had never felt the urge to bond with anyone at the Center, and the staff took the glass half full approach, and used him to help with the kids.  
  
"Yeah, most of it. I gotta check on the new guy after breakfast, but then I've got Caroline's group." He held open the door for Neal to walk through. "You wanna tag along?"  
  
"Sure." The warmth of the house hit him like a wave as he entered. He tried not to think what it would be like to never feel it.  
  
~~~  
  
Neal stood behind Dave as he opened the door. No matter what the Center thought, he wanted to make sure he was wanted in someone's room before he just barged in.  
  
"Hey Andy, how're you doing today?"  
  
Andy turned from where he'd been looking out the side window to look at Dave. Neal took him in at a glance. He looked fairly tall, and he looked solid. Like even if he wasn't huge, you could depend on him in a fight. His brown hair was hanging in his face, partially obscuring the deep purple bruise on his cheekbone. His eyes met Neal's and they looked exhausted.  
  
Dave noticed where Andy was looking. "Hey, this is my friend Neal. His sister stays with us. You mind if he's in here with me?"  
  
"Nah. It's okay." Andy's voice was...interesting. Musical. He took his hand out from underneath the electric blanket. "Andy Skib."  
  
Neal nodded, and reached out with his own hand. "Neal Tiemann. Nice to meet you."  
  
Andy grasped his hand, and Neal almost fell over. " -the fuck?"  
  
Andy let go, almost as suddenly as he'd taken Neal's hand. He was gasping, as though he couldn't get enough air. Neal could still feel the prickling sensation in his hand, as he cautiously took a step back from Andy's chair. He looked over at Dave, who was staring at them with wide eyes.  
  
"Shit, you guys." Dave quickly walked towards the door. "Lemme get someone, hang on."  
  
Neal suddenly realized what had happened. He looked at Andy's stricken eyes. "Oh, fuck no." He was not going down this road. Neal strode quickly out the door. He'd say good-bye to Caroline and then be on his way back to Tulsa in fifteen minutes.  
  
~~~  
  
Neal packed his bag with shaking hands, barely recognizing them as his own. He desperately wanted to be out of there and have a smoke, in that order. He'd already said a quick goodbye to Caroline, apologizing for not staying longer. As if he needed to feel any more guilty than he already was.  
  
He struggled to close the zipper on the bag, cursing at it, when a pale hand covered his own.  
  
"You wanna tell me why you're leaving?"  
  
Neal looked up at Dave, unwillingly meeting his eyes. "'m not staying here for this. I didn't sign on to be someone's fucking provider."  
  
"And what about Andy? You just gonna ditch him?" Dave's eyes were hard. Neal could tell he was starting to get pissed. "You know fucking well that there's not gonna be anyone else for him. You're it. So here's what I don't get." Dave's voice was getting louder. "I don't get how you can watch your sister go through that all her life and not want to help someone who's gone through the same thing. Would you want someone to turn their back on Caroline? Because that's what you're doing. Andy needs you."  
  
Neal wasn't going to be made to feel guilty. It was his life. "Quit fucking projecting your issues on me. It's not my fault you're so fucking needy. You want to help him, you fucking bond with him."  
  
"Stop being so damn selfish!" Dave yelled back.  
  
"I'm selfish? You're an insensitive asshole, trying to push me into this, when you know damn well I don't want it. My life's plenty fucked up right now, without adding another person. Screw you, Dave."  
  
Neal shook off Dave's hand and angrily pulled the zipper closed. He picked up the bag and stormed past Dave, heading towards the door. Dave was still yelling at him when he reached it. Before he could turn the knob, it opened from the other side, to reveal Andy standing in the hallway.  
  
Dave suddenly broke off. "Andy. Man, you should be downstairs, under covers," he trailed off, hesitant to just order Andy back to his room.  
  
Andy broke the eye contact he was holding with Neal to look at Dave. "I'm fine, Dave. I'm better than I was yesterday," he looked back at Neal. "And Neal's handshake gave me a boost." Andy took a step into the room. "Is it okay if I come in?"  
  
Neal shrugged in response.  
  
"Dave, could you give us a few minutes?"  
  
Dave looked back and forth between them for a second, before nodding. "Sure." With a last pointed glance at Neal, he left the room.  
  
Andy turned to watch him go, before facing Neal again. There was an awkward silence between them. Neal looked at everything *but* Andy in the room, stretching the silence out for a few minutes, before finally "There's no way you're going to convince me. I'm not doing this."  
  
Andy nodded, as though this was the answer he was expecting all along. "They found out I was HD at a really early age. Like, I think I was still less than a year old or something."  
  
Wondering at the seeming non-sequitur, Neal waited for Andy to continue.  
  
"They actually left me outside the door of a hospital. They wrapped me in a blanket and just left me. No one wants to adopt a kid with heat deficiency, so I ended up in the foster care system."  
  
Neal knew all about that. Parents who wanted to adopt, the vast majority, wanted healthy and normal kids.  
  
"I've been in seven different foster homes. They were usually good people, but." Andy broke off as his body gave a violent shiver.  
  
Neal felt like shit. Of course Andy couldn't just stand there and be fine. "Hey. Anything I can get you?" He reached for a blanket that was sitting on the chair.  
  
Andy shot him a look, and smirked. Well, except that. Neal appreciated the irony here. Andy accepted the blanket with a nod and sat down in the chair, wrapping it around him.  
  
"Anyway," giving Neal an amused smile. "I left a week ago, from the last family. They didn't get it, but I had to see if I could change anything. If it happened, then fantastic. If it didn't - doesn't," he corrected. "Then I'm fine with that too. I've had lots of time to get used to this." His expression turned solemn. "So don't think you're doing me any favors if you decide to do this. I'm fine on my own, and the last thing I want is for someone to convince you to bond with me when you obviously don't want to."  
  
Neal watched him stand up and carefully fold the blanket. "I'm not ready to settle down with another person. I don't even know what *I'm* doing. I can't help you." He felt as though he was making excuses now.  
  
Andy looked at him for a moment, before shrugging. "It's your decision." He walked towards the door, "See ya later, man" over his shoulder.  
  
~~~  
  
Neal stared at the doorway for a few minutes, chewing on his lip. He thought he knew exactly what he wanted to do, but maybe it wasn't as clear cut as he wanted it to be.  
  
Neal eventually wandered down to the designated playroom. Dave gave him a questioning look from where he sat on the floor with Symone and Brooklyn curled up in his lap; the girls looked like they were about ready to fall asleep from the heat, despite the late morning hour. Neal ignored his quizzical look and went over to Caroline, who was valiantly attempting to paint without getting any on her sweater or thick gloves. She spotted him coming and scrunched up her face to grin at him. He returned the smile, and scooted down on the floor close behind her, pulling her into his lap. She snuggled in for a moment, and then picked up the paintbrush again. Neal decided to defer his decision for the time being.  
  
~~~  
  
Almost two days had passed before Neal saw Andy again. It was obvious that Andy was giving him space to figure things out, because the Center wasn't that big; you had to work to actually avoid seeing someone.  
  
Given the nature of the Center, it wasn't surprising that only Neal was on the porch that evening, despite the warm night. Mind being bombarded with thoughts, he'd decided to bring his guitar outside and play around a little. Maybe he'd come to a decision, more than likely not, but maybe he'd be able to write something in the process. Not for the band though. He'd at least come to one decision; the band was done. Or he was done with the band, however they chose to look at it. Unfortunately, making that decision final didn't help him with his larger dilemma of where to go next. Maybe it was time to go back to college and get a degree in something.  
  
Neal messed around with a difficult chord progression for a while, humming to himself. He was interrupted when the screen door behind him opened. Neal looked up from his guitar, fingers twitching on the strings.  
  
"You supposed to be outside?"  
  
"Yes, Mom. I think I'm allowed." Andy leaned against the post and slid down with a sigh to sit on the porch close to Neal, but made no move to touch. "I'm fine. I've been doing this a while now. I believe I mentioned it."  
  
Neal looked away, watching the breeze roll the dried leaves around the front lawn.  
  
"How long have you played?"  
  
Neal watched Andy hug himself, before remembering to answer the question. "Since I was twelve or so." He paused a moment. "You?"  
  
Andy's eyes closed and he smiled. "Six years or so. How'd you know?"  
  
"Dave mentioned something."  
  
"Ah. You do anything with it?"  
  
"With the guitar playing?" Neal asked. "Yeah, I'm in a band. Well, I was in a band, anyway," remembering his earlier decision.  
  
"Yeah? What happened?" Andy opened one eye to look at Neal.  
  
Neal kept softly strumming. "A lot of bullshit."  
  
"Mmm. That sucks, man." Neal looked over to see that Andy had started to lightly shiver. Oh what the hell.  
  
"Hey, scoot over. C'mon, you can lean up against me." Neal felt uncomfortable making the suggestion, especially after he'd treated Andy like he had some sort of disease when they'd touched before.  
  
"You sure?" Andy gave him a suspicious look. "You're not going to run away like a little girl this time, are you?"  
  
"Yeah, you're hilarious Skib. Get over here."  
  
Andy moved over. "Just making sure." He leaned over, and after a violent shudder and a hissing breath, settled down in a slump against Neal. "Hunh. Tha's good," he mumbled.  
  
Neal resumed his strumming, and after a minute, Andy's humming was added to the guitar. They continued that way for a long while, until Andy fell asleep, and Neal was left with his guitar and his thoughts.  
  
~~~  
  
 _He was on the front porch of the Center, staring west into the sunrise.  
  
"You tried the iced tea yet?"  
  
He turned to his left, and saw Dave, with a glass in his hand.  
  
"No."  
  
"You should. It'll really fill you up."  
  
Neal watched him gulp down the tea as though he was dying of thirst.  
  
Children laughing. Neal watched Ellie and Ezekiel run down off the porch, no jackets, no gloves.  
  
"Hey!" Dave shouted at them. He set his glass on the railing and ran down the steps. He stopped at the bottom, and looked back at it, a lost expression on his face.  
  
"You'll see it again, you know," Neal pointed out.  
  
"Maybe," was all Dave replied before he turned around and ran after the kids.  
  
All was quiet and unmoving. Neal looked to the right, to see Andy appear. He was holding a glass of iced tea. He held it out to Neal. "You sure you don't want any? It's delicious."  
  
Neal wavered. "But then you won't have any."  
  
"I don't need any, as long as I have you."  
  
"But you don't have me," Neal replied.  
  
Andy smiled at him, and reached out his hand. He made contact with Neal's, and said "Don't I?"_  
  
Neal woke up.  
  
~~~  
  
He was sitting on the front porch steps, smoking his second cigarette of the morning when Dave came outside.  
  
"Morning. What are you doing up so early?" the question punctuated with a yawn.  
  
"Woke up, couldn't get back to sleep." He eyed Dave's haggard appearance. "What's your excuse?"  
  
"Hmm? Weird dreams." He rubbed his hand over his head, ruffling already messy hair. "Had to get up early anyway. Going on a home visit with HDO in an hour or so."  
  
They sat quietly together for several minutes.  
  
"Hey," Dave started. "Look, I'm sorry if I was trying to pressure you into anything with Andy. No matter what I think is right, I should have accepted the decision that you made. I mean, if Andy could accept it, then I'd be an asshole if I couldn't deal with it, right?"   
  
Neal didn't say anything for a minute. "I'm not sure what I want anymore."  
  
"What?"  
  
Neal sighed. "I don't know. I don't want to bond with him, but I don't want to leave him here either. I don't want to stay here, but I don't want to go back to Tulsa. I don't fucking know what I want to do."  
  
Dave nodded, like he knew what Neal was saying. Which was a feat in itself, because Neal didn't even fucking know what he meant by all that. "You know, I bet all providers feel that way. It's not like it's a well known condition or anything. Who wouldn't balk at bonding for life with someone they hardly know?"  
  
Neal turned to look at him, messy hair, worn clothes, tired expression. "How do you know you're still meant to be with someone?" he asked. "Even when they keep telling you it won't happen? How do you know?"  
  
Dave smiled wistfully. "I just feel like that's where my life is heading. It's what I was meant for, to save somebody from this. There's this place in me where someone's supposed to be." He turned to Neal and raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Sometimes I even feel like I already know him - or her, I suppose - but I lost them, and now I'm not even sure if I'll ever find them again."  
  
Neal's mind filled with children laughing and iced tea. Andy, reaching out to him. _Don't I?_ "Oh, I'm sure you will."  
  
~~~  
  
Neal spent the rest of the day thinking about what Dave had said, trying to make a decision. He couldn't stay there forever in limbo; he had to figure out what the hell he intended to do, and just do it, move on from this point. The more he told himself that he absolutely did not want to do this, he pictured Andy at the Center for the rest of his life, receiving stop-gap measures from people like Dave just because Neal was a pussy who wasn't brave enough to make the leap. Neal wondered if there were any ethics classes on this being offered somewhere - if you alone could cure a person from an otherwise incurable, but not life-threatening condition, should you, even if it meant being with that person for the rest of your life? The rest of your life, as far as anyone knew, anyway. He decided he may has well spend some more time with Caroline while he was mulling over his thoughts, but it just seemed to muddy the waters. Caroline was a cheerful little girl, but she was far from normal - she'd had few friends back home, could never go outside alone in winter, was teased in summer, and would always have a disability, unless they figured out a new cure, or she was able to meet a provider later in life. The question was, if he could save Caroline, or someone *could*, would he want that to happen? And of course, the answer was now crystal clear. The only thing left for Neal to do was man up and go talk to Andy.  
  
~~~  
  
Andy seemed surprised to see Neal at the door, but he stepped back to let Neal in the room. The heat was jacked up in the room, so much that Neal started to break a sweat just standing still, but Andy was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, hat, scarf, and gloves and still looked cold. Neal felt nervous all of a sudden.  
  
"I changed my mind." Neal thought he just get it out there, finesse be damned. He watched Andy's eyes light up and he took a half step forward, before Neal's outstretched hand stopped him. "You should know, I'm not the greatest catch or anything. I'm kinda going nowhere. Just wanted to say that, in the interests of full disclosure and all that."  
  
Andy laughed and sliced his hand through the air, as if to knock aside Neal's concerns. "You do know that it doesn't matter, right? I like you as a person, Neal. I actually like that you have misgivings - I'd be worried if you didn't. It's a big decision. But either way, whether you have a ten year plan all laid out, or whether your next stop is living on the street," he looked Neal in the eye. "Either way, you're the one for me. You're my provider, man, and there's no getting around that, at least on my end."  
  
Neal suddenly felt the urge to rip off that ridiculous looking hat and scarf.  
  
"Neal, you sure this is what you want to do?"  
  
He stepped forward and brought his hand up to graze his fingers along the edge of Andy's jaw, noting the sudden intake of breath and the shiver running through the man in front of him. "Yeah, I'm sure."  
  
Neal barely had time to take a breath before Andy mashed his lips into Neal's. As quickly as he'd jumped in though, Andy backed off, gasping for air. "'S a little hot," he noted.  
  
Neal swallowed hard. "Gonna get hotter," he responded, hoarsely, before grabbing the scarf and yanking Andy against him.  
  
His mouth burned against Andy's as he quickly got rid of the scarf. As soon as he had access to that neck, Neal moved his mouth to a spot right below Andy's jawline that made Andy moan. He felt Andy's hands grappling at his side, pushing Neal away, then pulling him closer. Neal's hands made their way up to cup around Andy's face. He pulled back, looking Andy in the eye. "You okay?"  
  
"Don't," Andy panted softly. "C'mon, c'mon," and tugged at the buttons on Neal's shirt. Neal was distracted for a moment, watching how Andy's hands shook against his chest.  
  
Covering Andy's hands with his own, Neal stopped him. "Hey, hang on." They were doing this in plain sight of the open door, for fuck's sake. He dropped Andy's hands and quickly walked over to the door. Neal heard a whimper behind him. He closed and locked the door, and turned to see Andy's expression change from complete despair to sudden relief. Neal's hands twitched and he moved back to Andy, kissing him roughly. "'m not leaving. I told you that I was sure. I'm sure as hell not walking away now." He met Andy's eyes, dark with arousal and panic. "You got that?"  
  
Andy swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah." His voice was shaky, but he looked determined. "I got it." His hands, now steadier, made quick work of Neal's shirt.  
  
Neal waited until Andy had finished before he reached his fingers under the bottom of Andy's sweatshirt and pushed it up and over his head, taking the knit hat along with it. Having lost the sweatshirt, scarf, and hat, Andy started shivering a bit more. Neal knelt down to pull off Andy's shoes and his socks, and Andy had apparently had enough of waiting. He yanked his gloves off, muttering to himself, tossed them across the room, and quickly shimmied out of his long sleeved tshirt and undershirt, leaving his chest bare. Neal stood up, watching Andy try to hold off for a moment, but eventually give in and wrap his arms around himself in an attempt to contain some body heat.  
  
"Jesus." Neal quickly stripped the boots off his feet, unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down to the floor. Kicking them aside, he reached out and pulled Andy into his arms, walking them backwards towards Andy's bed. He pushed Andy down on the bed and stretched out on top of him, growing erection dragging against the rough fabric of Andy's jeans.  
  
Andy's breath stuttered as he felt Neal's weight and heat on top of him, before he gave a huge sigh and suddenly relaxed. He reached his arm up around Neal's neck and pulled him down for a long, lazy kiss. His other hand gravitated towards Neal's hip and he arched up with his hips, grinding up into Neal.  
  
"Hang on," Neal muttered, breaking away from Andy's swollen mouth. The jeans had to go. He reached down and unbuttoned Andy's jeans with one hand, holding himself up on his right arm. Pushing himself up to his knees, Neal pulled Andy's jeans down to his thighs. Andy whimpered as Neal's hand brushed against his dick. Neal scooted back further, to drag Andy's jeans off the rest of the way, before immediately returning to his last position. This time it was infinitely better, now with skin to skin contact.  
  
Neal dragged his hands down Andy's side as their kissing grew rougher and Andy began to make increasingly needy sounds. Reminding himself of what they had to do, Neal held down Andy's hips and pulled away. "Andy. You have anything? We're gonna need..." He trailed off as Andy nodded and reached over to the drawer at the side of the bed. Nice of the Center to make sure they were stocked up, Neal thought to himself, as he tossed the condom to the side of the bed, and flipped open the cap on the lube. Someone had more confidence that he'd give in than he would have given himself. Neal poured the slick liquid into his hand, not watching as Andy's eyes grew big, and then scooped some up with his fingers.  
  
Without Neal's hands to grab onto, Andy reached out and grasped Neal's thigh as Neal carefully pushed his fingers inside. It was strange. Andy was just as tight as Neal had expected, but not nearly as warm. Neal pulled his fingers out, added more lube and pushed back in again, scissoring his fingers to stretch and prepare Andy. His dick brushed up against Andy's thigh and Andy let out a hiss. "Come _on_ , Neal. Do it," he commanded.  
  
No one was going to have to tell Neal twice. He cursed as he struggled to open the condom, slippery fingers defeating him. Andy snatched the package out of his hands and quickly tore open the wrapper. Knocking Neal's outstretched hand aside, he reached down and rolled the condom onto Neal's dick. Neal hurriedly reached down to stop Andy's hands. "Fuck," he muttered. They'd be finished before they started if Andy didn't knock it off. Neal wiped the remainder of the lube on the sheet at his side, grimacing at the mess, before taking himself in hand. He looked Andy in the eye, and slowly pushed in. Andy's eyes slipped closed momentarily as he felt Neal's heat inside of him, before he opened them again to make the eye contact he knew was necessary.  
  
Fuck Andy was tight. Neal reached up with his hands to slide his fingers between Andy's, before pulling out slightly and thrusting back in. He looked at Andy, feeling like something was happening. He knew generally how bonding was supposed to work, but no one had ever told him what it would feel like. Neal's body started to tingle, and he wondered if it was the same for Andy. Andy's body was twitching and he was struggling to keep his eyes open on Neal. Neal gave one more thrust and it suddenly felt as though he'd been blasted with a burst of hot air. Suddenly he could *feel* how warm Andy was. Not just against his skin, but how warm Andy felt to himself. He read the relief in Andy's eyes just before he suddenly relaxed into the bedding and Neal's arms.  
  
Andy broke out into a light sweat at the sudden rush of heat, and Neal reached up to cup Andy's face. As he leaned in to kiss his partner, he could feel the pleasure of the warmth and the weight of his own body on Andy from Andy's own mind. That was a little freaky. Backing off, he watched Andy a moment, waiting for his eyes to open. Eventually they did, and when he saw Neal watching him, his lips twisted into a smirk. Neal didn't even try to suppress the moan Andy caused as he ground up against Neal, wordlessly telling him to finish what their bonding had started. Well, if he wanted it that way, Neal would certainly oblige.   
  
Neal pushed himself up on his arms, bracing himself before thrusting roughly into Andy's body. Through Andy's moans and the building heat and tension, Neal kept going. Andy started babbling below him, urging him on, muttering "yes yes yes" and finally tightening around Neal and coming hard.  
  
Neal struggled to hold still a minute, as he waited for Andy to relax. Finally, Neal felt he could finally let go. Thrusting once, then again, he gave in, and came deep inside Andy.  
  
He collapsed against Andy, and tried to catch his breath. Dimly, he felt Andy's fingers run through his hair, before they suddenly fell to Andy's side as he passed out. Not a huge surprise, since this was the first time that Andy probably felt warm enough to relax and fall asleep. Neal pulled out and disposed of the condom, before crawling back in with Andy and falling asleep at his side.  
  
~~~  
  
Neal slammed closed the trunk of the car. Andy was up on the porch, talking with Dave, saying goodbye. They were ready to head out, back to Tulsa, for Neal to pack up his life there. Then they would move on, taking a short road trip to decide where they wanted to be, and what was going to happen. Who knew when they'd be back here again. Neal knew though, on the deepest level he could imagine, that it didn't matter where they ended up, as long as he was at Andy's side.  
  
Andy was laughing at something Dave had said as Neal walked up the steps to where the two were standing.   
  
"Hey man," Dave reached out his hand to shake Neal's. "You say bye to Caroline?"  
  
"Yeah." Neal ignored Dave's hand and pulled his friend into his arms. He knew Dave was a sucker for hugs. True to form, Dave's arms wound themselves around Neal tightly.  
  
"Have a good trip, alright? We'll miss you around here." Dave's eyes were fucking getting misty.  
  
Neal rolled his eyes. "Sure thing Dave. Use the time wisely man. See if you can grow out the rest of that fuzz on your chin."  
  
Dave laughed, wiping his eyes. "Fuck you," he said, with a grin.  
  
Neal smiled at him, before turning to Andy. "You ready?"  
  
"Yeah," Andy turned to Dave. "Thanks for everything. We'll see you around."  
  
Neal threw his arm around Andy's shoulders as they walked down the steps, getting a thrill out of the way Andy moved closer to his side. Once Andy was in the car, Neal glanced back at Dave, and waved goodbye before getting in behind the wheel.  
  
"Alright," he told Andy, who had already started messing with the radio. "Let's get on with it."  
  
Andy just grinned at him, and rolled down the windows. The cool fall breeze blew through the car as Neal drove away.


End file.
